Through the Fire (The Native American Warrior Series) (15 page)

A fresh wave of panic washed over her.
“Let me go!” she cried, pulling wildly against him. She fought to wrest her hand away and claw his face somewhere behind her, but she couldn’t free herself even for an instant.

“
Monster! Demon!” she raved at him, hardly aware of what she shouted.

He let her shriek away. Was he waiting for her to wear down? That wasn
’t long in coming.

Tears spilled over her cheeks.
“Vile serpent! Slithering into your hole. If you had any real balls, you’d not seize a helpless woman!”

“
I have those. And you are not helpless.”

****

Shoka had intended to hold out awhile longer, but he couldn’t resist answering Rebecca’s outrageous insult.

Crying his name, she collapsed against him.

Her relief seemed more debilitating than her fear had been and he thought at first she might have fainted. Then she shook violently and unleashed a torrent of accusation.

“
Bastard! Frightening me out of my wits. I feared you were dead, damn you!”

He supposed he had this tongue-lashing coming and let her rave while he held her gently, so unlike the force he
’d restrained her with only moments ago.

“
As soon as I recover, I’m going to kill you. How could you do that to me?” she demanded.

“
I despise frightening you. Yet you must learn.”

“
So you’ve said. Dear God. ’Tis bloody harsh.”

“
This land is harsh. And its people.”

She heaved a shuddering breath and crumpled against his bare chest.
“I hate you.”

For a time, he simply held her and let her cry. Her sobs were partly drowned out by the fury still raging beyond their shelter. She started at every loud clap.

“You also have much fear of the storm, do you not?” he asked.

She wiped her face with her sodden kerchief.
“Lightning struck not a stone’s throw away from me.”

“
I saw.”

“
You were there? And didn’t come when I called?” She drew back and drove her clenched fingers into his chest.

He let her pound him then covered her fists with his hand.
“I wanted to come. But how else am I to teach you?”

“
For pity’s sake. Would you take all the fight from me?”

“
You still have a goodly amount left.”

“
Ooooh—I’d like to throttle you!” she lashed back. “I’m chilled through. And I loathe being in here. ’Tis murky and the ceiling’s too low.”

“
Would you prefer to be out there?” A resounding crash broke at the tail of his question.

“
No.”

“
I cannot build a fire in this close place, but I can warm you. Unless you wish to battle me?”

“
Oh, I wish to. But I’m too wretched. Get this wet gown off me.”

“
Gladly.” He laid his weapons and pouches on the cave floor then unhooked the sodden panel that closed her bodice.

He wrestled the soaking dress from her and flung it aside. He tugged at her petticoat ties and helped her to crawl from the wet cloth.
“This too,” he said, and unlaced her corset.

The ridiculous undergarment joined the bedraggled heap and left her shaking in her shift. Removing his bedroll, he unwrapped the large skin and spread it over the leaves. He sat on the fur, guided her beside him and closed the dry blanket around her.

Convulsed with cold, she huddled against him. He took a pewter flask from his pouch and held it to her lips. “Brandy, from
Capitaine
Renault. Part of his apology.”

“
He owes me a damn sight more than this,” she muttered, and swallowed. “Strong stuff,” she coughed.

Shoka said nothing, just returned the flask to her lips and prodded her to additional sips. Between him and the brandy she seemed much warmer. He offered her another swallow.

“Enough. Save some for yourself,” she said.

“
I want a clear head,” he said, taking a short pull of the potent brew.

“
Mine’s swimming a bit.”

“
Yet you tremble less, and you have calmed.”

“
Calm? I’m practically limp. Are you trying to intoxicate me?”

“
Perhaps a little,” he admitted, relieved that her hysteria had diminished. He tipped a final swig down his throat before recapping the flask.

She swayed, gripping his shoulders for support.
“I think I’d better lie down.”

He lowered her down onto the hide.
“I still hate you,” she murmured, as if he’d forgotten.

Her words pierced him and he gazed at her in the muted light. She was curled on her side, wreathed in damp hair, and seemed to be sleeping. He let her doze, wishing he could make amends. Punishing her the way he had was the most difficult thing he
’d ever done and a great deal for her to forgive.

The storm dwindled to a steady rhythm as he lay beside her. She stirred, nestling against him. If she called for John Elliot, he didn
’t think he could bear it, but she didn’t.

Then, incredibly, he heard her whisper,
“Shoka.”

Hope shot through him.
“Yes?”

“
Are you still angry with me?”

“
No.” He pushed up on his elbow and bent over her, smoothing lengths of hair from her moist cheek. “Are you, with me?”

“
How can I not be?”

“
I have no wish to crush your spirit, Rebecca.”

“
You broke me in half,” she sniffed.

“
No. Just bent you a little.”

“
Worse than that.”

Despite her insistence, he sensed her wavering, and brushed his lips over her face with the softness of butterfly wings.
“Shhhh…”

She uncoiled even further and he settled his mouth over hers. She didn
’t resist him, partly the effect of the brandy, he realized, but also in response to his tenderness. He would bend her a little more, in an entirely different manner, and drew her closer with each tug on her mouth.

Slowly he released her lips.
“Do not despise me.”

She gazed up at him, her eyes just discernible in the dim light.
“I don’t so much anymore.”

He wound a tendril of her hair around his finger.
“No?”

“
No,” she sighed. “You’ve won my respect. What more do you want from me?”

“
Obedience.”

“
I’ve given this to no one.”

An unexpected admission.
“Not even to your precious captain?”

The brandy seemed to have loosened her tongue and she spoke more freely than she might normally have done.

“Not really. I had my way in most matters.”

“
You must heed me or suffer. I wouldn’t see you suffer.”

“
Nor I. Yet rebellion runs deep,” she said.

“
Why resist me? You cannot prevail.”

“
If I don’t fight, I fear to lose myself.”

He listened as the words spilled out, and then said,
“You will.”

“
What?”

“
Lose. Yet gain much.” Again he brushed his lips over her face, unable to keep from savoring her. Wrapping her shapely body in his arms, he reclaimed her waiting mouth.

Her compliant lips returned his heated pressure and drove a scorching shaft of need through him. He also felt the desire he
’d promised to kindle taking flame in her. “You just lost a little more of yourself,” he whispered.

“
This loss I can bear.”

“
What of this?” Shoka asked, and loosened her shift, coaxing it over her smooth shoulders.

He pressed his lips down her silken neck, like the rich cloth the priest had described to him, and followed the tempting curve. She shivered under his caress and goosebumps prickled her skin. He wasn
’t stopping here. He was too near the milky white swells he had only glimpsed before.

She caught her breath as he tugged her shift lower and slid his fingers over her rounded breasts. Her nipples firmed like full ripe berries and the mounds filled his hands to overflowing, pushing up above his cupped palms. He closed his hungry lips around a plump nipple and lightly suckled it.

She stiffened, her voice an uncertain whisper. “Shoka—”

“
Let me love you.”

Her chest rose and fell temptingly beneath him.
“This isn’t fair,” she argued.

“
No,” he agreed, nuzzling between her breasts and sliding his lips from one nipple to the other.

He could savor her fruits for hours…days. Everything in him wanted her, the wolf, the bear, the hawk, and most of all the man. He
’d never release her to her uncle, or to anyone else, and would wrestle her away from Captain Elliot’s tenacious hold.

Let the heavens roar and the mountains tremble, he must have her or be tortured in the flames. She had pierced the cold sadness of his heart and brought him to fiery life. Only she could quench the inferno in his gut, or was it his heart? It was definitely his groin. Only this woman could ease his torment, even if only for an instant. He would take her to himself and the consequences be damned.

“I have longed to have you. I think you will not refuse me,” he said huskily.

Rebecca didn
’t agree; neither did she push him away. Even if she’d tried, he would have been hard-pressed to relent now. She gasped as he stripped off her shift and tossed it onto the discarded pile; then she tugged at the edges of the blanket to close it around her nakedness.

He stopped her hands so that she lay before him completely disrobed and drank her in, from those wide eyes in her exquisite face, down over her lovely neck and shoulders, her full creamy breasts, smooth flat stomach, and seductively curved hips. He pushed himself back slightly so that he could also see the curly mound between her thighs and her long slender legs. She was wonderfully, piercingly desirable.

“I wish to look on all your beauty.”

“
But John—”

“
Is gone. You are mine now,” he said almost roughly.

Her eyes reproached him.
“And you think I’ve been with many other men.”

He gentled his tone.
“No longer. I only think you are so fair and wish for more light to better see you.”

“
But John did not undress me entirely.”

Shoka smiled and bent back over her.
“What did he do? Lift your petticoats?”

“
My nightdress, thank you. He didn’t come to me for love in the day.”

“
No? He lifted your nightdress?”

“
Must you say it that way?”

Shoka nibbled her downy earlobe.
“How else?”

“
Very well,” she agreed with a shiver. “Sometimes he did. And when he chose not to, I had blankets to cover with.”

Shoka chuckled against the steady rain, laughter in the heat of the battle raging inside him. If he could better discern her coloring, he suspected he
’d see her cheeks had flushed a pleasing shade of rose.

“
You needn’t take on so,” she chided.

“
You hid from your husband like a frightened rabbit. Why did he allow this?”

“
I was afraid of men. You know the reason. John was careful not to alarm me.”

“
Am I alarming you?”

“
Yes!”

He took her much smaller hand in his and kissed her palm.
“My heart,
teakee
, is yours. Do not fear to lie with me.”

“
Now?”

In reply to her hesitation, Shoka pulled away his breechclout. His male organ was acutely extended.
“You torment me. I cannot wait.”

Her eyes fixed on him and her mouth dropped open.
“Oh.”

He smiled at her rapt regard.
“You stare like a virgin. Yet you tell me your husband loved you well.”

She hurriedly raised her stare to his eyes.
“He did. Gently, in the dark.”

“
With you hidden under blankets in your nightdress?”

“
And he took pains not to reveal his private parts.”

Shoka gathered her against him, relishing every inch of her soft body.
“Is this not better?”